Portsmouth boss: Why it was the right thing to drop Will Norris for Oxford United clash
John Mousinho believes it was the ‘right thing’ to end Will Norris’ remarkable run of consecutive Pompey appearances.
The League One-winning goalkeeper had started every Blues league match since August 2023, totalling 54 successive outings, yet was omitted from the squad on Saturday.
Instead Nicolas Schmid was handed his debut, with Jordan Archer coming onto the bench to serve as back-up for the visit of Oxford United.
Norris, who watched the subsequent 1-1 draw from the South Stand, paid the price for his disappointing display in Wednesday night’s 6-1 humbling at Stoke.
And Mousinho was pleased with how replacement Schmid, a summer signing from Austria, fared in Norris’ absence.
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘It wasn’t an easy decision, Will has played every minute of every league game since he’s been here.
‘I thought it was the right thing to do to bring him out after the other night - and we have two goalkeepers there in Jordan and Nico also competing for that spot. It was a tough decision.
‘I thought Nicolas was a spectator for a large part of the game, although did make a brilliant save (from Idris El MIzouni). He didn’t have anything to do in the second half up until the goal, so that was largely disappointing.
‘I was very, very pleased with his debut and distribution, the fact it was his first game in this country as well, he can take a lot of credit for that.’
Schmid was recruited in August for an undisclosed fee from BW Linz, previously occupying the Blues’ bench for every match since then.
However, the 27-year-old was entrusted with a starting spot and - just 26 minutes into his debut - pulled off an excellent spot when El Mizouni found himself clean through.
He added: ‘That moment probably sums us up at the minute. That comes from us having four players around El MIzouni and he comes out the other side. Lads are trying to win the ball back too much.
‘Just let one player go and everyone else cover around, don’t be idiotic about the way we press and close players down. We’re all trying to win the game in the 26th minute, just have a bit more composure about it.’